ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports from Austria, one of the continent's numerous Covid hotspots
Austria is to go into a nationwide lockdown next week amid a rise in Covid-19 cases, with mandatory vaccinations to be enforced from February.
The country had already announced a partial lockdown, applying to only unvaccinated people, but chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said further measures were needed to contain another wave of coronavirus cases.
The lockdown will start on Monday and initially last for 10 days. Students will have to go back into home schooling, restaurants will close and cultural events will be cancelled.
From February 2022, vaccinations will also become mandatory Austria's public broadcast ORF reported.
Covid rates vs vaccination rates across Europe
Why is Austria going back into lockdown?
In recent weeks, Austria has faced a worrying rise in infections.
The World Health Organisation reported 15,609 new cases on Thursday, up from 12,000 the week before.
Authorities are concerned rising infections and deaths will put hospitals under pressure during the winter months.
The country has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe, with only around 65% of the total population fully vaccinated.
Back in the UK, Boris Johnson has warned a new wave of Covid could be coming to Britain from Europe.
The prime minister urged the public to get their booster jabs in order to combat the rise in cases seen in other parts of the continent.
Will the UK be next to bring back a lockdown? ITV News Health Editor Emily Morgan explains why the answer is likely to be no
Mr Johnson described "storm clouds" of a new coronavirus wave are gathering over parts of Europe.
"We have been here before and we remember what happens when a wave starts rolling in," he warned earlier this week.
The surge in Covid cases across Europe is forcing governments to take drastic measures, with Austria on course to become the first country in the continent to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory in an effort to curb infections.
Vaccines would be required for all Austrians from February 1, with the country also reimposing a strict lockdown. The plans are the most far-reaching of new measures taken by European nations to ease pressure on hospitals, with Belgium, Germany and Norway among the countries beefing up controls.
The Austrian plans come as the EU’s medicines regulator said member states were cleared to use Merck’s antiviral pill to treat Covid-19.
Alexander Schallenberg, Austria’s chancellor, said on Friday it was time “to face reality” as he announced the new three-week lockdown and said a “general obligation” would apply for all Austrians — where rates of vaccination are among the lowest in western Europe — to get a jab under laws that could be approved within months.
“The political consensus has been against compulsory vaccination in this country and I also believed people should be persuaded to be vaccinated . . . for the protection of society. But despite campaigns [too many] people have still not been vaccinated,” the chancellor said, following late-night discussions with Austria’s state governors.
Austria currently offers jabs to anyone over the age of 12. About a quarter of Austrian adults are yet to be fully inoculated.
No details of how the “general obligation” for vaccination will apply have been made public. So far only Indonesia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have made vaccinations compulsory.
Schallenberg’s government is likely to face a difficult political battle as it races to get the necessary legislation in force, despite broad support from the leading opposition Social Democratic party.
The mandate is likely to be fiercely resisted by the populist rightwing Freedom party, which has become increasingly outspoken against pandemic-related restrictions in recent months.
“The government is crossing a dark red line, throwing the basis of our federal constitution overboard and leading the country coldbloodedly into a dictatorship,” said party leader Herbert Kickl, who is currently housebound after testing positive for coronavirus.
Austria is part of a cluster of wealthy — and mainly German-speaking — nations at the heart of Europe with poor vaccination rates.
In Germany, which has experienced a surge in cases over the past week, the air force is preparing aircraft in case they are needed to transport Covid-19 patients from the worst-affected areas to regions with more hospital beds, local media said.
Norway said on Friday that it would tighten requirements to enter the country and all citizens aged over 65 would receive a third vaccine dose before Christmas. And Denmark’s government said it would require vaccine passports for use in public sector workplaces.
Also on Friday the European medicines regulator cleared the way for EU nations to use Lagevrio — Merck’s antiviral pill for Covid-19 — which has been proven to halve the hospitalisation and death risk of the virus, to treat at-risk patients.
The European Medicines Agency said it issued the advice “to support national authorities who may decide on possible early use of the medicine prior to marketing authorisation . . . in light of rising rates of infection and deaths due to Covid-19 across the EU.”
Slovakia and the Czech Republic set out new restrictions on Thursday. And Belgium has imposed a four-day homeworking rule to come into force next week.
Austria will enter a lockdown on Monday, with all bars, restaurants, non-essential shops and entertainment venues closed until December 13. The measures will be reviewed after 10 days.
Schools will remain open. After December 13, and regardless of any measures to reduce restrictions, unvaccinated people will continue to be ordered to stay at home and banned from public indoor spaces.
Austria reported a new record of 15,145 daily infections on Thursday, giving the country a rolling seven-day average of 12,616 daily new cases, or 141 cases per 100,000 residents — more than triple the EU-wide average — according to Johns Hopkins University.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has jumped 22% in the latest 12-month period, reaching its highest level since 2006, data from the country's space agency shows.
Between August 2020 and July 2021, trees were felled from land measuring 13,235 square km (5,110 square miles), the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said.
It is an area 17 times the size of New York City.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:59
Amazon loggers say economy is more important
The state of Para suffered the most deforestation, accounting for 40% of the latest figure. There are nine states in the Amazon region.
Data was gathered through the INPE's PRODES satellite programme.
Advertisement
Deforestation has accelerated since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019.
Before then, the Brazilian Amazon had not recorded a single year with more than 10,000 square km of deforestation in over a decade.
More on Brazil
Related Topics:
Between 2009 and 2018, the annual average was 6,500 square km. Since then, it has risen to 11,405 square km.
"It is a shame. It is a crime," said Márcio Astrini from the Climate Observatory, a Brazilian advocacy group.
"We are seeing the Amazon rainforest being destroyed by a government which made environmental destruction its public policy."
The INPE report is dated 27 October, meaning a Brazilian delegation went to COP26 "knowing the deforestation data and hid it", the Climate Observatory added.
Mr Bolsonaro did not attend the summit in Glasgow, with Brazil's top climate diplomat, Paulino de Carvalho Neto, telling Sky News the president had "other things to do".
Environment Minister Joaquim Pereira Leite admitted the deforestation amounts to a series of "crimes".
But the latest data does not reflect recently introduced measures against illegal deforestation, he added.
Though he admitted the government must be more forceful in fighting destruction.
"The numbers are still a challenge for us and we have to be more forceful in relation to these crimes," he said.
Austria is to become the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory by law and has announced a full national lockdown from Monday, amid a fourth wave sweeping the continent.
Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said the coronavirus lockdown would run for a "maximum of 20 days".
He also announced it would be a "requirement to get vaccinated" in Austria from 1 February.
Students will have to go back into home schooling, restaurants will be closed and cultural events will be canceled.
Advertisement
"We do not want a fifth wave," Mr Schallenberg said.
"This is very painful."
More on Austria
Related Topics:
The measure to make vaccination compulsory among the adult population will attract controversy, with Austria only the fourth country in the world to do so - after Indonesia, Micronesia and Turkmenistan.
The nation had already introduced a series of strict measures along with Germany and Slovakia in the weeks leading up to Christmas, as a debate intensifies over whether vaccines alone are enough to tackle coronavirus.
Around 66% of Austria's population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in western Europe.
Its infection rate is among the highest in the continent, with a seven-day incidence of 971.5 per 100,000 people - and daily cases keep setting records.
The country of 8.9 million has reported more than 10,000 new infection cases daily, while hospitals have been overwhelmed with many new COVID-19 patients and deaths have also been rising again.
The national lockdown will initially last for 10 days, after which the effects will be assessed and the measures extended to a maximum of 20 days if cases have not gone down enough.
Two states in Austria - Salzburg and Upper Austria - had already triggered a range of restrictions, with the rules extended to apply to vaccinated people and a full lockdown from next week that would see schools shut and a curfew imposed.
Last week, Europe accounted for more than half of the seven-day average of infections globally and about half of the latest deaths, according to a tally by Reuters news agency.
It comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced fresh curbs on public life for those who have not had a vaccine in areas where hospitals are filling dangerously fast with coronavirus patients.
And German health minister Jens Spahn today hinted that the country could follow Austria in announcing a full lockdown.
"We are now in a situation ... where we can't rule anything out," he said.
Greece has also imposed more restrictions on unvaccinated people following a recent surge in cases - barring them from all indoor spaces, such as cinemas, museums, and gyms.
The death rate from the virus has reached its highest level in six months, as roughly one-third of Greece's population remains unvaccinated.
Germany is set to introduce tighter restrictions on citizens who have not taken up the Covid-19 vaccine.
The country is being battered by a fourth wave of the virus, with new infections hitting a record high of more than 65,000 on Thursday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the situation with coronavirus is ‘dramatic’ as she announced a raft of new measures aimed at curbing the winter surge.
In areas with a hospitalisation rate of more than three Covid-19 patients per 100,000 people over the past seven days, only those who have been vaccinated or recently recovered from the virus will be allowed into public spaces such as sporting venues and restaurants.
Most of the country’s 16 states currently exceed that limit.
Regions with a rate above six will have to impose a ‘2G plus’ rule requiring people to have been tested as well as jabbed.
Those with a rate over nine will fall under even harsher measures, such as limits on social contact.
Doctors and nurses work in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at University Hospital Leipzig (Picture: Getty)
A patient is treated in the Covid-19 intensive care unit (Picture: Getty)
Ms Merkel and the 16 state leaders also agreed to make vaccination mandatory for healthcare and care home staff to combat the spread of the virus in those settings.
The Chancellor said: ‘The situation is serious, it is dramatic. We need to look at the occupancy rate and we know that we can’t afford to have more people in ICUs so we need to break the cycle.
‘The situation would be a great deal better if more people were vaccinated, it would be fantastic if more people decided to get vaccinated.
‘It is important people choose to get their vaccinations for themselves and society at large.’
Cases have surged across Europe, driving governments toward reimposing lockdowns to try and bring cases back under control.
The Netherlands is back under semi-lockdown after recording its highest ever number of new infections.
Austria has so far tried to resist placing the entire population under restrictions, so far limiting measures to the unvaccinated.
But the country’s worst hit regions have hinted the surge may only be tackled by a full lockdown.
Russia and Greece are the latest countries to announce they are considering restrictions on the unvaccinated in a bid to boost take-up of the jab.
Joe Biden said he was considering a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in a move that would inject fresh tension into the US-China relationship just days after his first meeting with that country’s leader Xi Jinping.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, Biden, the US president, on Thursday said a diplomatic boycott was “something we are considering” when asked whether he was contemplating the move.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration issued several strong statements about China’s persecution of Uyghurs. Antony Blinken, secretary of state, has accused Beijing of committing “genocide” in Xinjiang, where the regime has detained more than 1m Muslim Uyghurs and other minority ethnic groups.
Biden’s statement came after several months during which his administration had been less vocal about Xinjiang, sparking concern from human rights groups that the US president was muting his criticism ahead of last Monday’s virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
Congress also appears to have lost momentum in its efforts to pass legislation designed to counter China, including a bill that would bar US companies from importing goods made with forced labour in Xinjiang.
Xi and his lieutenants have told US officials they should ease their criticism of the situation in Xinjiang to improve relations, which have been mired in their worst state since the countries normalised ties in 1979.
The Winter Olympics are scheduled to open in Beijing in February. Earlier this year, a state department spokesperson said the US was consulting with allies about the possibility of a diplomatic boycott, which would involve Washington and some allies not sending delegations to the Games.
Two people familiar with the internal debate said Biden was considering a boycott but had not consulted widely with allies. China has also not made clear whether it will invite foreign delegations, ostensibly because of its highly restrictive policies on visits to China because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden and Xi held a more than three-hour video call on Monday, in which both leaders stressed the need to make sure that competition between the powers did not generate an even greater deterioration of relations. Biden said the two presidents had a responsibility to ensure that competition “does not veer into conflict”.
Human Rights Watch has also called on the corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games, including Visa and Coca-Cola, to explain why they were willing to endorse the Games given concerns about the alleged suppression of rights in Hong Kong.
“There are just three months until the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but corporate sponsors remain silent over how they are using their influence to address China’s appalling human rights record,” Sophie Richardson, head of the China programme at Human Rights Watch, said last week.
Germany is set to introduce tighter curbs on people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, as cases in the country hit a record high.
Restrictions for unvaccinated people will be introduced in areas where hospital admissions exceed a set threshold, Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of Germany's 16 states agreed.
Under the rules, the unvaccinated will be excluded from certain venues.
Mrs Merkel described the situation with Covid in the country as "dramatic".
"We need to quickly put a brake on the exponential rise" in cases and intensive care unit occupancy, she said.
The number of daily cases in Germany rose sharply on Thursday to more than 65,000 - by far the highest figure since the pandemic began.
The new rules, agreed in a crisis meeting, mean that in areas with a hospitalisation rate of more than three Covid patients per 100,000 people over the past seven days, only the vaccinated and those who have recovered from the virus will be allowed to access to public spaces like sporting events, cultural shows and restaurants.
The majority of the country's states currently exceed this threshold.
Areas with a hospitalisation rate of more than six will have to introduce a "2G plus" rule, requiring people to be tested as well as vaccinated, and regions with a rate of more than nine will have to introduce further measures, like restrictions on contact.
Mrs Merkel and the other leaders also agreed on Thursday that healthcare and care home employees must be vaccinated to control the spread of the virus.
Their announcement came after Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favour of a new set of Covid measures, including limiting access to public transport and the workplace to only people who have been vaccinated or tested.
These measures still need to be agreed by parliament's upper house on Friday, and some conservative politicians have threatened to block the bill.
The states of Saxony and Bavaria have already imposed so-called 2G rules placing restrictions on unvaccinated people in response to a surge in cases.
Germany is not the first European country to introduce restrictions on people who have not been vaccinated against Covid.
Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia on Thursday announced tighter restrictions for unvaccinated people, in a bid to encourage vaccine uptake.
Under the rules approved by the Czech government, only those who are vaccinated or have recovered from Covid in the past six months will be allowed enter restaurants, attend certain events and use various other services from Monday.
Slovakia's Prime Minister Eduard Heger described new measures there as a "lockdown for the unvaccinated".
Austria earlier this week placed about two million people who have not been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 into lockdown. It means they are only allowed to leave home for limited reasons, like working or buying food.
"We are not taking this step lightly, but unfortunately it is necessary," Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.
Two provinces in Austria - Upper Austria and Salzburg - will go into full lockdown from Monday, media reports say.
